Playing A Game Binary Domain PC

I've been maintaining a tepid interest in this uniquely fascinating game even through its thoroughly underwhelming reception. And I was about to jump onto its current Flash Deal on Steam, but thought it prudent to sample the demo first. Now I'm glad I tried it.

It didn't help that Binary Domain's demo doesn't explain vital controls at all. A party member asks for my advice, and I'm supposed to answer with voice controls? No, let me use buttons or keys ... but which key shows me what to respond with? (Hint: it's Tab.) Of course, if I take too long to respond, the conversation ends with everyone disappointed and upset. Then I get into a firefight, but I ran out of ammo, I need to switch weapons ... how the hell do I do that!? (Hint: number keys 1-4.) Meanwhile my teammates are yelling at me for support, but I don't know how.

I also couldn't find any option to invert the look/aim control stick, which is -- I mean, come on, really? This has been a requisite standard since 1997. Fortunately the mouse and keyboard controls work well enough (although this apparently was not always the case), but if you still want to invert your mouse look, good luck with that.

Aside from the shoddy demo work, the gameplay in general also didn't feel quite right. There's a whole robust system of team interaction and trust, but your teammates are far too likely to run into your line of fire like an idiot, making them trust you less. And they bark questions at you way too much during combat, such that responding to them is more of an irritating chore than meaningful interaction.

The gunplay didn't seem very good either. Most weapons run out of ammo almost immediately, except for the standard assault rifle - which is inaccurate as hell, and has way too much kick - and the pistol sidearm, which is so weak that it's basically useless. And while it's cool how shooting different parts of the robot enemies causes armor plating and limb damage, the amount of total bullets they can absorb is just too many.

I got enough out of the demo to get a glimpse of some of Binary Domain's neat features, but also enough to see how flawed its execution was. For $15, I'll pass. Though I might take another look when it's down to $5.

Progress: Gave Up -- Tried the demo